The markets opened mixed with the Dow losing 17 points to 13,194 while Nasdaq added 3 points to 3095 after Global Payments admitted that over 1 million credit and debit card numbers may have been compromised.
On the upside
Avon (NYSE: AVP) rejected a $10 billion acquisition offer from Coty saying that it undervalued the beauty products company.
Express Scripts (Nasdaq: ESRX) completed its $29.1 billion acquisition of Medco Health after the Federal Trade Commission approved the deal.
Roundy's (NYSE: RNDY) was added to the Russell 2000 Index.
On the downside
Keryx Biopharmaceuticals (Nasdaq: KERX) and Aeterna Zentaris (Nasdaq: AEZS) reported that their colorectal cancer treatment Perifosine failed a Phase 3 clinical trial.
AVI Biopharma's (Nasdaq: AVII) muscular dystrophy treatment eteplirsen increased levels of the protein dystrophin but failed to improve walking ability in a midstage clinical trial.
Groupon (Nasdaq: GRPN) restated its fourth quarter results prompting downgrades.
In the broad market, advancing issues outpaced decliners by a margin of nearly 10 to 9 on the NYSE while decliners edged out advancers by more than 7 to 5 on Nasdaq. The Russell 2000 which tracks small cap stocks slipped 2 points to 828.
